Lewis Hamilton dominated qualifying to claim pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix. He is ahead of Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg and will start from pole for 56th time. Hamilton produced a 1:32.850 on his first Q3 run and did not need to improve on his second. Rosberg made a mistake on both laps in the last qualy session.
Max Verstappen beats Daniel Ricciardo for 3rd
Nico was split by the Ferrari pair after running wide at Turn 6, but took second on his last lap, despite another error through Turn 15. Max Verstappen beats Daniel Ricciardo for 3rd and 4th. Ricciardo was the only driver to reach Q2 on the medium compound of tyre.
“A huge thank you to the team who continue through the whole year to improve, said Hamilton. – To come here this year it’s definitely the best the car has been here. Of course, the car is obviously better. Today the car felt fantastic”and I really enjoyed that lap. It could have been faster.”
Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen had to settle for fifth and sixth in their Ferraris as Force India drivers Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 8.
Jenson Button in Q3
Jenson Button put his updated McLaren-Honda in 9th. His team mate Alonso will start form the back of the grid because he takes 45-grid penatly places. Button is ahead of Felipe Massa in Williams. Valtteri Bottas missed Q3 with an error at the final hairpin and ended 11th. He is ahead of Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutiérrez in Haas.
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF QUALI) Stunning effort from @LewisHamilton #MalaysiaGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/j8dbHHy9gv
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 1, 2016
